Elephant Rumblings: Langeliers Leads All-Star Voting, Kurtz 4th

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JUNE 12: Shea Langeliers #23 of the Athletics hits a solo home run to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Las Vegas Ballpark on June 12, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Justine Willard/Athletics/Getty Images) | Getty Images Happy T

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Happy Tuesday everyone.

The A’s have had multiple guys on the roster playing at or near All-Star worthy levels. Every team in baseball is given on All-Star every year, but this season the A’s should have multiple position players at the Midsummer Classic, and possibly a pitcher. Getting three to the All-Star Game would be awesome, though probably unexpected. Right now however the A’s have someone who would be starting for the American League this season.

That would be catcher Shea Langeliers. The backstop

affectionately known as “Bangeliers” is having a career-season, slashing an incredible .281/.344/.539 with 18 long balls. Each one of those easily leads the AL as last year’s AL starting catcher Cal Raleigh has struggled to follow up his MVP-caliber year last year. For comparison, Raleigh has already punched out 57 times in 41 games while Langeliers has punched out the same amount but in 64 contests.

A big part of Langeliers’ huge season can probably be attributed to all the half-days manager Mark Kotsay has been giving him, making sure that he’s not pushing himself too hard behind the plate and wearing down faster. While he’s started 50 games behind home plate, he’s also been in the DH spot 14 times, about once a week. That has clearly helped him stay fresh in the batter’s box in the early going and should continue to keep him ready through the dog days of summer and into the fall.

Langeliers’ closest competition for the AL starting catcher honors is Toronto backstop Alejandro Kirk, but that’s not going to happen. Though he’s second in votes at the position, Kirk has played in just seven games and was only just activated off the injured list a few days ago. Unless a literal tsunami of votes suddenly come his way, there’s no chance that anyone other than the Athletics’ catcher will be behind home plate when the All-Star Game gets underway next month in Philadelphia.

Unfortunately for the A’s MLB goes with a fan vote for the starting lineups in each league, meaning the best player at a position may lose out to the second or third best just because they play in a bigger market.

That seems to be what is happening with first baseman Nick Kurtz. A dark-horse MVP candidate entering the season, Kurtz got off to a slow start as he hit only one long ball over the team’s first 19 games. He was drawing his walks but not much else while hitting mostly atop the lineup.

He begun to heat up with the bat once Kotsay decided to push him lower in the order (by a spot or two). First it was his awesome on-base streak, which tied Mark McGuire for the franchise record. Then the power finally began to come around. The 23-year-old found his stroke and the home runs finally arrived. He now he has 18 long balls on the year after hitting two last night. Not an incredible amount but a solid number considering the power outage he experienced at the start of the year.

Kurtz’ .438 OBP leads all of baseball but he’s merely in the top-5 in other offensive categories. And with the AL first base picture stuffed with options for voters, it’s looking unlikely The Big Amish will earn his first All-Star starting spot. He’s almost certainly going to get picked as a reserve for the squad, which will be his first time being named to the team, but he’ll likely defer to the top vote getters. It’s looking like it’ll be a battle between current leader Vladamir Guerrero Jr. and Ben Rice. Rice is well deserving of the nod as he’s having a fantastic year in the Bronx, but Guerrero Jr. is clearly riding name recognition as he’s got just three home runs. Make it make sense!

The A’s predictably don’t have any other top-5 vote getters at any other position. They did however see one more name on the first update: outfielder Carlos Cortes. The second-year lefty garnered enough votes to place 11th among AL outfielders, ahead of names like Jo Adell, Steven Kwan, and Taylor Ward. He’s earned those votes thanks to a .303/.389/.479 with six home runs in a part-time role. His defense has left plenty to be desired but Cortes has been a huge part of early successes, taking over a large part of Lawrence Butler’s role on the team. The 28-year-old isn’t likely to draw lots of advocates for his selection to the All-Star Game, but it’s always nice to see the casual fan acknowledge and reward successes where earned.

First pitch is same time as yesterday’s, 6:40 P.M. Until then y’all. Have a great day.